CULLMAN, Ala. – Along County Road 721 in eastern Cullman County, you’ll find Bagwell Blueberry Farm. It’s a small farm owned by local couple Darrell and Karen Bagwell, who grow mainly blueberries, some blackberries and raspberries and some vegetables.
“My husband is from Walker County,” said Karen Bagwell. “We married about 16 years ago, but he had been raising blueberries in Walker County for about 12 or 13 years before that. When we combined our family, we needed a bigger house so we found this lovely little place, built our house and he started clearing trees.”
She laughed, “When he planted the first hundred (blueberry) bushes, I thought he was crazy! Then he planted another hundred and I knew he was crazy! Now we have quite a few bushes.”
Bagwell said the farm, in operation for approximately 13 years, has about 600 blueberry bushes and offers 15 varieties of blueberries available for customers to pick.
“We’re mostly a blueberry farm; we are expanding with the blackberries,” she said. “We are more of an organic farm. We start harvesting in June and we harvest until, well, we’re still harvesting. It’s about a six-week season. Our season starts the first week of June and we’ve had wonderful response from our ‘u-pickers’ this year. We use underground irrigation. We also farm muscadines. We have apples and pears, and a couple of years we started planting blackberries and raspberries, but mostly the blackberries, and then we have a greenhouse.”
She smiled, “We’ve enjoyed it, it’s nice to have people come out to our farm.”
Bagwell said they do not use pesticides or any chemicals to treat their plants.
Aside from the farm, the Bagwells also give visitors the chance to hike down their property to see a natural creek.
“We do offer these little hiking trails,” said Bagwell, “(for) when people come out to the farm and want to bring a little picnic down there. That’s something we’ve found that people, especially from Birmingham and Huntsville, have been really tickled about. Some from Cullman, too.”
As to how the farm is handing COVID-19 concerns, Bagwell said, “We’re socially distancing. We try to remain at the 6 feet apart distance as we can. People that pay with credit card, l just have them tell me their numbers so that I don’t have to handle anything, and we’ve just been respectful and we have masks.”
The farm offers “u-pick” buckets for $15 for blueberries. Prices vary for other fruits and vegetables.
Bagwell Blueberry Farm is located at 228 County Road 721, Cullman, Alabama 35055. It is open Wednesday through Saturday from 7 a.m.-5 p.m.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/BagwellBlueberryFarm or call 256-339-4342.
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